I did some 1-1 training with an aspiring boudoir photographer a few weeks ago, and Jess was kind enough to come down for a shoot and help me teach some posing and direction tips.
I am in constant admiration of the women I meet doing this job, and Jess was certainly no exception. The more I learned about her the more impressed I was – she’s a mother, a cancer survivor, a tattoo artist, a horse lover, and just like all the rest of us, someone who sometimes struggles to call what looks back at her in the mirror beautiful. I know was hard for her to work up the nerve to do this, especially after a particularly challenging few years and lots of tough body changes, so it was a real honour to photograph her.
Like, honestly – it is not easy to be pregnant, to push a baby out of you-know-where, to deal with a diagnosis of cancer and the various operations, treatment, and the ridiculous amount of stress that accompanies that situation, to be a new mother, to loose the baby weight, etc etc etc. and then shortly after all of that, to say yes to yourself and your quiet hope of more self-confidence and reclaiming a teensy bit of your carefree self…by getting half naked in front of a stranger’s camera.
We can laugh and joke about it being a silly photo shoot in your knickers all day long, but the truth is that saying yes to a boudoir shoot is an act of pure courage. I cannot TELL you how much I admire and respect the women who show up in my inbox and at my door.
This work matters. Maybe not to everyone, but it mattered to Jess and it matters to me.
Window light is my absolute fav.
She absolutely killed this pose. You know what else killed? My back. Teaching boudoir posing for two days straight is no joke.
On the right, the classic S curve.
Jess did her own makeup for the shoot, and I think it looks lovely.
In fact, between the tattoos, the hair, and the eyeliner, it felt like we had Amy Winehouse in our midst.
A few simple bed poses up next.
On short notice, Jess bought some of those stick on false nails. They seemed great at first, but we’d lost a few by this point and more kept popping off every few minutes. I tried them once too, and they wouldn’t stick on my fingers very long either. Take it from us: avoid them for your photo shoot/important event/life in general. You had one job nails. One job.
As part of the training, we shot late into the day to practice low light techniques. Silhouettes like this one are a godsend if it starts raining cats and dogs mid-shoot.
Love this.
Legs for daaays. And big shoes. Double win.
Finally, just a few more dark and mysterious bed shots to finish the day.
Jess, thanks so much for your bravery and your patience. Lovely to meet you and work with you:)
“My shoot with Stormy was nothing short of fantastic! I have done a few photo shoots in the past, but my shoot with Stormy is easily one of the best shoots that I’ve ever done. I was made to feel welcome from the moment I walked in, and I felt so comfortable working with her. She clearly has a strong understanding of how to bring out the best in every person she photographs.
When I received the finished photos I was completely blown away! Not only are the photos flattering and well edited, but I feel like I can see the true version of myself looking my absolute best in them, rather than someone else’s idea of how I need to be changed and edited to qualify as ‘beautiful’. The photos are phenomenal, and I absolutely love them. Everyone I’ve shown the photos to loves them too!
Thank you for such an amazing experience Stormy, I can’t recommend you highly enough!”
We started simply, just classic black cotton basics and a white wall.
Makeup artist Sadaf created a beautiful brown smoky eye for this look, paired with absolutely perfect dewey skin. If a classic black smokey eye sounds daunting, this softer version is a lot easier to pull off and still photographs really well.
Just hanging out in my curtains again. If you’ve shot with me, you know why this is funny;)
This summer haze…I’m always so sad to see it go.
Look two. We ended up going for an “English Rose” sort of feel. Sara’s lingerie was the perfect shade of pink, so we used that as inspiration for her lip and cheek colour. Tia, our hairdresser extraordinaire, suggested a casual, fun top knot and everything came together quickly from there.
I tend to prefer almost everything in colour these days, but here are a few black and white frames anyway.
This faaaace. My quest to learn studio lighting continues, but I’m pretty proud of these.
And more proud of these, because CHANDELIER. Sara probably thought I was a complete idiot, as the wider view of these images is a total mess – me squeezed into a tiny hallway, loads of net curtains hanging over too-small lights in a too-small space, and random bits of equipment clipped and taped in place. OH, and me hand holding a ghetto fill light in my left hand while trying to focus and shoot with my right. Luckily, I surrendered my pride long ago hahaha! WHATEVER IT TAKES girls, I will get the shot.
A little old school film stock and texture to finish.
Sara, thanks again for a lovely shoot! Sadaf and Tia, props to both of you for doing such a great job (as always), it was such a pleasure to have you both on set. Until next time!
On the blog today, a few of my favourite frames from my recent shoot with Sophie:)
We wanted to go for an Old Hollywood feel, and Gemma did a fantastic job creating Sophie’s hair and makeup look to suit.
Oh hello! How gorgeous does Sophie look here?! I generally prefer images with a strong red lip in colour, but here’s a side by side so you can make up your own mind.
Props to Gemma for hand holding a light to help me get this shot:)
Mysterious is as mysterious does…
I wanted to try a slightly desaturated look for this set too, and I quite like how it turned out.
I think this look lends itself to vintage styling. If only I had an old war plane…
Sophie is wearing a simple high street lingerie set here, and nude suede heels, so it’s an easy one to copy if you’re a fan.
Next up, exactly the same set with different lighting.
I’m not actually sure which setup I like better. I like both for different reasons.
We switched to an understated lip and smokey eye for our second look.
A simple updo here, and a nice little pop of light to show off those cheekbones.
One obligatory image on the bed…
…and we finished up with this adorable, casual jumper look (also super easy to pull off for your own shoot).
A quick preview of what I’ve been up to the last two weeks…
I have four new shoots to share (plus all the older ones I still haven’t blogged…eek!).
There’s this “Old Hollywood Glam” concept with Sophie and Gemma on makeup and hair. I used some lights, we did some desaturated skin, and it all turned out great.
Then, back to basics with Sara. Also on this shoot; fake freckles, blue alien lips and a faux bob courtesy of makeup artist Sadaf and hairstylist Tia. Yeah, I’ve got your attention now don’t I? Just you wait.
Sara the English Rose in a topknot, with Tia and Sadaf on hair and makeup.
I’m so happy about the way this second image has turned out. It wasn’t easy or pretty, but we pulled it off. As soon as I can reliably recreate this look (without the sea of awkwardly placed softboxes, hand held lights, and net curtains diffusers), the studio entranceway will be officially open for business:) It feels like I’ve been waiting seven years to shoot this chandelier the way it deserves, and it’s the perfect romantic, glamorous feeling backdrop I always hoped it would be.
Finally, the fashion headshot with Montana, Sadaf, and Tia. I used lights again here – two of them! Studio lighting is definetly a learning curve – everything is so finicky. Still, making progress so I can’t complain:)
Meet Bianca. She’s one dynamic woman. In fact, she’s currently on a massive global journey competing and training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) and Bikini Fitness Bodybuilding. Because she can. She’ll be blogging about the journey so click the link attached to her name if you’d like to see what she’s up to.
Bianca needed a few images to help her say to women and girls, “You can choose what you think and say about your own body.” We also wanted to create images that show being strong doesn’t take away from being feminine or beautiful, and that it’s possible to feel comfortable in your own skin. If I’m honest, Bianca and I hit it off straight away and what was meant to be a quick hour-long shoot turned into a whole afternoon. I’m so proud to be contributing (in my own small way) to be helping her spread this message.
These images were destined for Bianca’s new website and also as part of her work with the This Girl Can Campaign. I was so excited when she mentioned this, because I fell in love with This Girl Can’s latest commercial the first time I saw it.
Now, onto the images…
Simple, clean images showing off a strong and beautiful body.
I think this one is my favourite.
I also did some simple graphic design work which I’ll maybe share later, we added some personal motivational messages to these images and they turned out really nice.
It was lucky we arranged this shoot when we did, because about a week after this images was created Bianca took a hit to the face and earned herself a massive black eye. It looked brutal, but she’s okay now:)
Love this laughing one so much.
Bianca was ever so kind to let me play around with some other ideas too. I’ve been wanting to try out a little fitness photography, and this was the perfect opportunity.
I’m a committed fan of natural light, so (no surprise) I found working in this tightly controlled setup a little tricky.
Given that it was my first try, and that I didn’t have the right equipment for this sort of shoot in the first place, I’m pretty happy with how these turned out though.
It’s definetly something I’d like to work on more. There’s a lot to learn in any new genre – apparently in this one, seeing veins and tension in the muscles is quite important. We nailed the viens early on but then couldn’t figure out how to get back to it haha! I definetly need a third light and a few new modifiers to improve from here.
But still, technical stuff aside….looooook at those abs!
If you’re a fan of this outfit (a blatant rip off of MICHI) you can find it at New Look.
A sneak peek at my newest project (drumroll)…boudoir video!
Shooting boudoir sessions on video is an idea I’ve been flirting with for ages, and I’m so excited to have finally made the first one. It’s definetly a learning curve and comes with software/hardware/equipment challenges, but both Montana and I were thrilled with the results of our first go. It looks way better in HD, so please feel free to watch this on my Vimeo instead (link at the bottom).
I wanted to wait and drop 15 videos on you all at once, Beyonce style. However, because I am not actually Beyonce and do not have anything near Beyonce’s production crew, I think it will take too long. I’ll share as I go instead.
My inspiration for boudoir on video comes from lingerie commercials, music videos, and fashion films. I love the traditional still boudoir photo shoot, but there’s a special kind of magic and authenticity that happens with motion. I just keep thinking – if you could star in a gorgeous video that left you feeling amazing and looking like you stepped off the Victoria’s Secret silver screen….how amazing would that be?
Montana and I got together a few weeks ago to catch up and test out some new ideas (stay tuned for sneaks). We were pressed for time, but we managed to squeeze in 10 minutes at the end for this feminine, summer-inspired lingerie look.
It’s a simple concept, but it’s full of beautiful curves and gorgeous light. Enjoy!
I really have to hand it to Miss M., she nailed this look in no time at all.
This was actually our second time shooting together. If you’re interested, you can see our first boudoir session here.
We were copying inspired by a Victoria’s Secret ad, and I think we got pretty close to the mark actually. Movement helps so much, I don’t think you can pull off poses like this if you try to do them static.
Dreamy.
I’m quite partial to the colour versions of images from this shoot, but a good film grain black and white certainly has it’s place too.
If you’d like to do something like this for your own boudoir shoot, it’s honestly not as hard as it looks. Bring along a playlist of songs that make you want to dance, and we’ll rock these out in no time.
Other things you’ll need: a summer coloured lingerie look (suggestion at the end of this post), and a great tan.
A few final frames with these gorgeous bars of sunlight. Images like these are tricky, as I usually get about two minutes before a cloud floats across the sun and ruins everything.
Still, it’s worth the effort. You only need everything in place for a split second:)
How great is M’s makeup by the way? I’m going to make her teach me, because she did it herself!
M – you were amazing. Next stop for us: Thailand;)
To wrap things up, I have a killer lingerie recommendation for you. Montana wore the “Lauren” set from Boux Avenue (pictured and linked below). It’s cheap, the coral colour is perfect for summer, and it looks great on camera. They have a special offer going on now where you get a free pair of matching knickers when purchasing the bra, so you can pick up the entire look for £25. STEAL.
Today, another post that was eaten by my web server move. Olivia is so inspiring, so I’m reposting for anyone who missed it or would like a second look:)
Here’s gorgeous Olivia (@curvycampbell) being so very brave in her first nude shoot. This was actually the prequel look to Olivia’s pin up set, although it’s got a totally different feel. It’s great to be able to create such variety in a single shoot, and I love how soft and romantic these turned out.
Sheer curtains are my best friend. This image on the right kills me still.
I love these images because of what they represent. If you’ve ever felt not good enough, not beautiful enough, if you’ve ever looked in the mirror and felt disgusted at what you saw staring back at you, these images are for you.
Olivia does not have a perfect body. She is not thin, she is not rich, she does not have a Pinterest-worthy life all the time. She is a single mother, she is mixed race, she battles with her mind and not feeling good enough, and she has been told no a million times. I think she’s absolutely brilliant, but the point is that she is you in so many ways. So this is the lesson: there is no reason that Olivia can learn to love her body, but you cannot.
Attempt the work. Decide to change your mind. Refuse to hate on yourself.
Do it every single day.
Pretty pink blooms and vintage pearls for the win.
We tried a sort of cheeky, Ellen Von Unwerth vibe with these, but I think it still needs a little refining.
Maybe a bit too provocative? I don’t know lol! Everyone else seemed to like them so I’ve left them in, but I plead the 5th if you’re offended!
Shooting these was a huge mistake, because I’ve been wanting to go to Morocco ever since.
One day soon. With a riad and a camel, obviously. Let me know if you’d like to come?
